Articles & Columns

Using Click-to-Call to Capture Mobile Audiences

By Joe Marcallini
Originally published on Marketing Profs, September 17, 2014

Up to 70 percent of mobile searches within Google result in a call to a business, with the majority of those calls lasting six minutes or more. Those numbers reflect the staggering amount of business (and revenue) up for grabs -- your business can't afford to miss out on those calls.Read More...

Increase Sales by Understanding Your Website Conversion Funnel

By David Kidd
Originally published on LinkedIn Pulse, September 2, 2014

A well thought out and optimized website is hands down one of the world’s greatest selling tools. But in order to complete critical business tasks, that site needs to be organized and thought about in the same way that you would look at a traditional sales funnel.Read More...

Drive Digital Conversions With Strategic User Experiences

By Matt Ocello
Originally published in Small Business Monthly, August 30, 2014

For a strong website to be built from the ground up, the design process needs to start with a user experience strategy that will increase potential for on-site conversions.Read More...

From the first website visit from a prospective student to the actual enrollment process, you can make connecting with your key audiences easier by adopting a few key strategies.Read More...

Design Responsively: Why Businesses Must Take Their Websites in a Mobile Direction

By Joe Marcallini
Originally published in Small Business Monthly, August 1, 2014

Websites expensive, and there's nothing worse than building a brand-new one to find out only a year or two later that you need to update it to keep up with the latest technology. A responsive design offers several benefits that make a big impact online for small businesses.Read More...

Search Engine Optimization in Financial Services

By David Kidd
Originally published on Banking Strategies, July 21, 2014

The barriers to entry for content marketing campaigns and SEO in financial services are low compared to other industries. Developing an effective content marketing strategy requires marketers to learn how to make the most of search engine optimization.Read More...

5 Enterprise App Requirements for a Successful User Experience

By Joe Marcallini
Originally published on Enterprise Apps Tech, July 9, 2014

As employees spend a good chunk of their time at work on their phones anyway, many companies build enterprise-level mobile applications to increase employee engagement and productivity.Read More...

4 Ways to Look Inward for Content Marketing Inspiration

By David Kidd
Originally published on LinkedIn Pulse, July 8, 2014

"I work here -- coming up with content ideas shouldn't be that difficult." We've all heard this common complaint about developing content. But with a million topics out there, nailing down the perfect one often feels like finding a needle in a haystack.Read More...

Five Mobile Banking Apps for Customer Engagement

By Allison Arthur
Originally published on Banking Strategies, June 24, 2014

To engage mobile customers, banks should build useful apps for them such as personal finance and budget, mortgage and loan calculators and credit monitoring.Read More...

Summer + Mobile Devices = Hassle-Free Vacations

By Thompson Knox
Originally published in The St. Louis Women's Journal, June 1, 2012

With the summer travel season rapidly approaching and the hope of more relaxing days ahead, one thing starts to come to mind – efficiency. I know, that word doesn’t really match the sentiment of the upcoming months, but why shouldn’t it?Read More...

Tips to Inspire More Clicks in PPC Campaigns on Google

Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns in Google provide great opportunities for businesses to appear in search results for targeted keywords and to direct visitors to landing pages. But the optimization fun doesn’t (and shouldn’t) stop there.Read More...

Top Three Website Check-Up Considerations for the New Year

By Thompson Knox
Originally published in The St. Louis Women's Journal, February 1, 2011

So, it’s a New Year and how are you doing with your Internet Strategy? SteadyRain provides a great service called a Website Check-Up that merits discussion as we renew our dedication to Internet excellence with this fresh start of 2012.Read More...

Spooky Truths About Online Brand Defense

By Thompson Knox
Originally published in The St. Louis Women's Journal, October 1, 2011

It’s time for black cats and orange pumpkins, again. I’m writing this article well before October and yet I’ve already gotten my first direct email about Halloween costumes. Wow, smart marketing. For our own celebration of All Hallows’ Eve, we’re going to learn about one of the most frightening topics for folks online today. Read More...

5 Valuable Content Creation Skills

Remember in high school when you turned in that mid-term paper, complete with perfect citation, informational graphs, and exactly 1,256 words, per your instructor’s syllabus? Not only do you breathe a sigh of relief, but a sense of accomplishment also washed over you because you completed something you knew was great. Now, years down the road, you can rediscover that feeling.Read More...

NFC: How Your Business Can Benefit

Near Field Communication (NFC) has been a popular topic lately. The primary premise of this technology is to allow users with compatible devices, such as smartphones, the ability to tap a similar device and transfer funds, files or specific data. While this may not sound exciting, it is a huge step forward for mobile technology.Read More...

How to Use Social Media Data to Improve Paid Search Campaigns

Sisyphus had it easier. Pay-per-click (PPC) has become so technical, that it’s hard to get a leg up as a newbie. Beginning at the dawn of Google, when I first got my feet wet with PPC, you could learn everything in an afternoon. These days, it seems like there’s a new management tool, tracking metric, or ad product springing up every hour.Read More...

How Mobile Technology is Changing the Way Consumers Bank

In the fourth quarter of last year, 30 million U.S. consumers accessed their financial services accounts via mobile devices. Mobile banking lends itself to personal scheduling, providing users the added convenience of accessing banking information while on the go.Read More...

Coupons 2.0: The Digital Deal Revolution is Here

By Thompson Knox
Originally published in The St. Louis Women's Journal, June 1, 2011

First there was Groupon (http://www.groupon.com). It emerged on the coupon scene in November 2008 as this mega-saving site, where you could scope out local deals on everything from restaurants to car services. Groupon leveraged a downturn in the economy to change the way people looked at coupons - and they succeeded!

10 Ways to Leverage Mobile Technology for Marketing

What do you think of when you hear “Mobile Marketing”? It might be difficult to think beyond the two obvious choices: a mobile website and mobile application. However, mobile marketing is much bigger. Here are 10 ways to incorporate mobile technology into your marketing strategy:Read More...

Where Are You Keeping Your Digital Shoebox?

By Thompson Knox
Originally published in The St. Louis Women's Journal, April 1, 2011

So I'm writing a book. And for this book I need period photographs that show folks in period dress and with period props. Now, before you ask, I'm not going to divulge what this book is about because that would sort of devalue it as an original idea. Don't you agree? I just want to be up front about it, so you don’t hang in there for a big reveal that isn't coming--at least not when it comes to the subject of my book.Read More...